Generative AI tools are notoriously unreliable, often providing false information with fake references and not adhering to what is being asked in the prompt.
Yet these tools are being rolled out in schools to provide student and teacher support, which in some instances causes problems.
A post from a frustrated student on the subreddit r/mildlyinfuriating highlighted this point, showing an image of an AI tool giving them incorrect feedback.
The AI tool was used to analyze the student's work, but on several occasions, it missed part of the content.
"My school has an AI that we're required to use and it's always messing up," the student wrote above the image.
While AI definitely has useful applications, there are more and more reported instances of AI giving false information. Sometimes these responses are silly and don't matter, but there have also been reports of AI giving life-threatening wrong information or particularly harrowing responses. For example, a college student using Google's Gemini chatbot received a particularly disturbing response after asking the bot for help.
Generative AI also has a devastating impact on the environment. Large data centers have been built to house the expanding technology, but they require a massive amount of energy to function.
Research carried out by Goldman Sachs suggests that data centers will be responsible for using 8% of United States power by 2030, compared with just 3% in 2022. Much of this energy is produced using dirty sources like coal, oil, and gas, which increases emissions of planet-warming gases.
An increase in the use of AI also means vast quantities of water are needed by tech companies for cooling data centers. For example, a research study estimated that the AI model GPT-3 consumes 500 milliliters of water for every 10 to 50 responses it gives. That is a lot of water when you consider the millions of people using AI worldwide.
Several commenters had had similar experiences with AI.
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"You learn early on how much AI sucks right now," wrote one commenter.
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Yes — it's rotting their brains 🧠 "AI contributes nothing and actively hinders learning anything," another added.
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